this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025

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In rural West Texas, a measles outbreak grows with no end in sight (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

113 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Summary

A measles outbreak in rural West Texas has surged to 49 confirmed cases, mostly among unvaccinated school-age children, with officials suspecting hundreds more unreported infections.

The outbreak is centered in Gaines County, home to a large Mennonite population with low vaccination rates. Despite CDC support, Texas has not requested federal intervention.

The outbreak has now spread to Lubbock, raising wider public health concerns.

Experts warn it could persist for months without increased vaccination efforts, but skepticism toward vaccines remains a significant barrier.

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[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 60 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything.

“Are you feeling all right?” I asked her.

“I feel all sleepy,” she said.

In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead.

Roald Dahl, pleading with people to vaccinate their children against measles.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 9 points 5 days ago

According to the doctors from the DoYourOwnResearch University - like donvict, Joe Rogan, and Brainworms - it's probably because she didn't eat properly, get enough sunshine, and work out. Maybe a dose of HCQ or horse dewormer to top it off and she's be in top-top shape. And getting those chakras aligned...

Obviously, /s

Anti-vaxxers and the bullshit artists calling themselves "skeptics" (they are NOT FUCKING SKEPTICS, by the way - the abuse of that term is maddening) drive me crazy. They can all go fuck themselves. They are fine with killing people, even children, rather than admit they have no fucking clue what they are talking about. It's all about them and their goddamn ego.

[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

And much like a novel of his works, a bunch of kids are going to have to die for us to figure this out.

[–] Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 5 days ago

Maybe we can call them late term abortions to get Republicans to actually give a fuck about all the kids harmed by anti vaccination

[–] Red_October@lemmy.world 69 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I hope some day we can invent some sort of treatment that could prevent kids from ever getting this disease.

[–] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

My greatest fear is that we will never find the cure for being an idiot. I know for some people that the disease is fatal.

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[–] Joeffect@lemmy.world 14 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Like why don't they just make something that makes the disease not hurt us and then put it in our bodies... Why do they have to have all this lab processed shit that they don't actually know what it does and try to put it in our bodies...

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

You know what's interesting is that the first real anti-vaxxers started because old vaccines would use pus from an infected cow. Something about it being unholy worship of cow or some nonsense.

Now the anti-vaxx crowd is all crying about synthetics... Can't make anyone happy.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago

The truly OG anti-vaxxers had some among them that thought it was against their god's will to combat disease, if you can fucking believe it (people are stupid and horrible, it turns out):

https://newrepublic.com/article/121000/puritanical-roots-anti-vaxxer-movement-go-back-300-years

To treat small pox was seen as a form of blasphemy—a moral evil that refused to recognize that epidemics were acts of God.

I just don't understand how such a "god" could be worthy of worship, then. Imagine losing 9 children before they reached adulthood. I'd flip this "god" of theirs the bird, and try the cure, thankyouveryfuckingmuch.

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[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 124 points 6 days ago (5 children)

The part that sucks in all of this: the children who died didn't choose to not get the vaccine. Their parents did.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 65 points 6 days ago (1 children)

They might not die. They might just go blind or dead or have brain damage.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 33 points 6 days ago (2 children)

But no autism! Cause that's wOrSt PoSsIbLe thing!

[–] TaiCrunch@sh.itjust.works 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

As the parent of an autistic child, I'd much rather him be alive and autistic than killed by a completely preventative means.

Of course, that doesn't even matter because vaccines don't fucking cause autism.

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 days ago

Man... That's a good point. These people are so fucked up.

[–] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 4 points 5 days ago

Correct.

Not vaccinating your children should be cited as child abuse. Because, it is.

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[–] negativenull@lemmy.world 96 points 6 days ago (1 children)

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 24 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Roadkill RFK will be harvesting their dead for food. Allegedly.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 9 points 6 days ago

Even worse, he'll leave them in Central Park.

[–] HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee 13 points 5 days ago

They will continue to die and let their children die to spite the rest of us.

[–] Freefall@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Hahaha, that is really funny. People in red states dieing because of a disease we wiped out almost entirely. I really gotta open a "child coffin" plant in Texas.

[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 23 points 5 days ago

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago

[–] Norgoroth@lemmy.world 14 points 5 days ago

It stops when all the unvaxxed kids die

[–] Majorllama@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My God. If only there was some sort of preventative measure they could have taken!

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Well, their god is maybe the problem:

https://newrepublic.com/article/121000/puritanical-roots-anti-vaxxer-movement-go-back-300-years

The anti-vaccine movement today is not solely religious in character, but much of its rhetoric is identical to theological arguments made against inoculation more than three hundred years ago. As the Florida-based organization KNOW (“Kids Need Options Without Vaccines”), puts it, “All vaccines are made in violation of God’s Word.” Such thinking is partly responsible for the worst measles epidemic in twenty years.

If you think your god wants you and/or your kids to die from preventable diseases, maybe it's time for a new one?

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[–] blueamigafan@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago

Lost my uncle at the height of covid because he wouldn't get vaccinated, apparently because he thought it was population control not sure how many more kids he was going to have at 70 but there we go. He basically spent too long on nonsense Facebook pages and the inevitable happened, all because some random people online convinced him and they will never be held to account.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

remember who did this. it's not over.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 33 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Measles? Isn't there a vaccine for tha...oh...whoops...

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 13 points 5 days ago

Might have to start building walls around the areas where idiots are giving each other preventable diseases.

[–] Buelldozer@lemmy.today 28 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Religious nuts.

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Good thing everyone I know is vaccinated.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 9 points 6 days ago (7 children)

Vaccines aren’t anywhere near 100% effective, they rely on herd immunity which means enough people have to have the vaccine so the disease can’t get a foothold and goes extinct.

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

RFK will recommend drinking water, take a vitamin and suck it up. Nothing to see here, move along. I feel sorry for the children who are led by their dumb fucked up parents.

Next up, Polio.

[–] FolknForage@lemm.ee 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I would totally gloat on the FO, but it sucks for the non-idiotic Texans and those that can’t get vaxed. :-/

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago (5 children)

MOSTLY unvaccinated? How many vaccinated people got the measles?

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 28 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Vaccines aren't 100% effective, the way they work is mostly through herd immunity, where an epidemic effectively peters out due to lack of viable hosts. Depending on the infectiousness of the pathogen, a +90% vaccination rate is usually enough to keep an infection from breaking through.

[–] normalexit@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

Two doses of the measles vaccine are approximately 97% effective at preventing measles. Certainly not 100%, but not too shabby.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago

I guess they are going to need to get a consultation from Brainworms about how to eat right, work out, make sure they have proper septic systems, and get their chakras aligned...

The anti-intellectuals strike again. Working very hard to turn America into a shithole country.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 18 points 6 days ago

“It’s not that they’re not educated. It’s just ~~what their belief is~~ they're complete idiots.”

FTFY

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